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1 March 2004 Attitudes of the Michigan public and wildlife agency personnel toward lethal wildlife management
Melissa H. Koval, Angela G. Mertig
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Abstract

Identifying attitudes of the public and wildlife agency personnel is important to implementing management policies, particularly in controversial situations. In spring 1999 we designed a mail survey to assess attitudes of Michigan residents toward a broad array of natural resource issues. We sent surveys to Michigan residents (56% response) and to all employees of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division (76% response) in order to compare public and personnel responses. The survey portion reported here assesses support for lethal wildlife management in Michigan. We identified 7 situations in which lethal wildlife management can be used: to control wildlife diseases, ensure species survival, preserve the ecological health of an area, control wildlife damage, ensure public safety, manage population levels of wild animals, and provide opportunities for people to gather food. Wildlife agency personnel were more supportive of lethal wildlife management in all situations presented than were members of the public. However, a majority of the public supported each lethal management situation as well. The largest area of disagreement between the 2 groups was in support for lethal management to obtain food. We also assessed differences by demographic and background characteristics. The general public support for lethal management we found suggests that it may be possible for managers to implement lethal wildlife management with few conflicts. However, since public support for lethal wildlife management varies by management situation, managers need to consider public attitudes in specific lethal management situations.

Melissa H. Koval and Angela G. Mertig "Attitudes of the Michigan public and wildlife agency personnel toward lethal wildlife management," Wildlife Society Bulletin 32(1), 232-243, (1 March 2004). https://doi.org/10.2193/0091-7648(2004)32[232:AOTMPA]2.0.CO;2
Published: 1 March 2004
JOURNAL ARTICLE
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KEYWORDS
agency
attitudes
lethal control
Managers
Michigan
opinion
public
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